The Innkeeper

Although it did not seem like it, as Lex walked quietly with the group towards the Chamber of Secrets, he was actually doing multiple things at the same time. A part of him was paying attention to the ongoing lightning tribulation. The devil... to be entirely honest, he had started the tribulation with a convincing performance, but the longer it went on, the worse his condition became. Parts of his body were already charred and smoking, and he had given up his humanoid form to revert to his true devil form.

Lex expected that the form would be quite gruesome, but it was far from the truth. While the large body with wings and horns and red skin looked mighty intimidating, it also looked regal and authoritative - not at all the vile, disgusting appearance Lex had been expecting.

But whatever the case, if there was to be a fire tribulation following the lightning one, he did not know how the devil planned on surviving with its existing wounds.

Another part of him was entirely focused on the new room design feature. It was incredible and versatile, but also tricky. Lex tried to create a training room with the additional qualities of the simple recovery room, which sped up the body's natural healing. He was only experimenting and wanted to see how it would turn out. Moreover, it wasn't a bad idea in case someone was training a technique that would constantly push them to the limit.

Lex achieved what he wanted. But because he did not calibrate it properly, or take into consideration how the various features of the Inn had or lacked synergy with one another, the room he created cost an incredible 34,000 MP per hour!

At that point, the price of the room was far beyond the reach of the target audience, and it became impractical and pointless. But that was fine. After all, he was experimenting for the sake of learning how to use it, anyway. He would slowly work out how best to join the unique features of the Inn together.

The remainder of his focus had been on the simple task of devising a loophole to prevent the chamber of secrets from erasing his memory somehow. His leading strategy was to have Mary hear everything and inform him later on. Yet Mary herself did not think it would work.

"Like I told you, since the description of the chamber specifically said that not even the Innkeeper would be able to spy on the secrets stored in there, it won't be so simple to work around it. There's a very high chance the system will block off my connection to you the moment you enter."

"That's ridiculous. Why would the system block you out? It's never done that before."

"It's a matter of integrity. Since the system itself focused on maintaining secrecy, then keeping the secret is a part of the Inns prestige."

"Let's just see."

In the end, there was not much he could do if the system had accounted for loopholes. When the group arrived, they found the chamber deserted, as usual, and did not hesitate to enter.

While Lex did not feel much of a change, besides the point that his connection to Mary, and his connection to the system, were put under restrictions, the rest of the group trembled once they entered.

According to the agreement they had set, they would not recall any of the secrets they shared with one another, unless all relevant members were within the chamber at the same time.

Larry and Souta had not revealed their secrets completely, but they had shared enough to gain the attention of the group. Even then, how could they have compared with the likes of Noman and Rafael? Noman, whose ability knew no limitations, could prove to be extremely valuable. Trusting the words of others was one of the most difficult things to do, but what if they had a perpetual truth detector besides them? How would anyone trick them?

Then came Rafael. Although his experiences were limited to Earth, he had lived through the future and knew many of the incoming trials the planet would face.

Anakin was suddenly reminded of the most important reason he had been trying to make so much money lately. He wanted to earn enough to use the prestige ability to escape Earth! He had only a few years before the first disaster struck!

Lex noticed the odd behavior and hesitation the group showed and turned to look at them. Most of the group was looking at Rafael while the man in question was completely nonchalant and took a seat.

"Before we begin," Rafael said, looking at Lex. "We need to establish an agreement first. Everyone here has shared something valuable with the group. It was not out of charity and no one was coerced into it. Everyone had something to gain, and so we shared our secrets with one another for mutual benefit. At the same time, the moment we leave the chamber, it withdraws information about each other's secrets from our minds, protecting everyone."

He paused again as everyone sat. He could not say for others, but he at least had an agenda for cooperating with a group of such uniquely talented people. Too much had changed on Earth from his memories, but those changes were mostly a result of changes on the planet itself. The external threats it faced were still coming, and not only did he need to strengthen himself for that, he needed powerful allies. But being greedy for skilled people could also endanger the group that had already been composed. As such, it was his duty to ensure that the group was not needlessly endangered.

| сom "You do not have to share your secrets if they are not related, but for us to trust you, you have to reveal relevant details, at least. Moreover, I'd like to know what exactly you want. Larry has spoken highly of you, and you have shown your worth, so if you're here to help out Larry, that's one thing. But if that's the case, the way I see it, you don't really need to know our secrets. Just the fact that Larry trusts us should be enough."

Countless thoughts ran through the group's mind as they heard Rafael's question. Everyone of them, except Noman, had plans of their own, so they didn't mind the fact that Rafael instinctively used them to build the group's authority. If Lex ended up joining them, it would start them out at an advantage.

Lex, however, felt like laughing. Instead of feeling interrogated, it felt like he was watching children playing a game. What did he want? Everything they could offer, of course! He resisted the urge to crack his knuckles and smile. It was time to learn all their secrets. He was a busy man - he had others to scheme against as well.

Outside the chamber, the devil that had been undergoing the tribulation died, unable to survive it. The ash his body turned into has not even fallen to the floor before another two tribulations began at the Inn. The constant flashing of lightning made the Inn seem like a disco.

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